Ohio man, jailed in daughter’s death, wants out to attend funeral

CINCINNATI – A Cincinnati man charged with fatally shooting his 11-year-old daughter wants a judge to let him out of jail to attend her funeral.

Deandre Kelley’s attorney filed a motion Wednesday asking that his client be allowed to attend Saturday’s services for Shanti Lanza. The motion stated that he is unable to post the $500,000 bond to get out of jail, but wants a furlough under “appropriate law enforcement” supervision.

Kelley is charged with reckless homicide in his daughter’s death. Hamilton County Common Pleas Court Judge Melissa Powers scheduled a Thursday noon hearing on the request.

Police say Kelley, 34, fired shots into the air outside early Sunday while arguing with the girl’s mother. One of them hit the girl in her second-story bedroom, where she had fled when her parents started arguing. Kelley’s attorney said the shooting was accidental.

Kelley pleaded not guilty Monday. Powers ordered the $500,000 bond, citing statements from police that Kelley had threatened to harm himself when he turned himself in Sunday. She also cited a lengthy criminal record with offenses involving alcohol, violence and drugs.

Kelley’s brother, Antwon Kelley, said outside the courtroom Monday that Deandre never would have shot the girl on purpose and that he was shaken up over her death. He described his brother as a family man and loving father of seven children who lost his teenage son a year ago in a still-unsolved shooting.

The Cincinnati Enquirer reported earlier that police said Sunday that Deandre Kelley came home drunk at about 3 a.m. and that his longtime girlfriend, Shanti’s mother, refused to let him in.

That’s when, police said, Kelley fired shots into the air, including one that hit Shanti in a second-story bedroom. She died at a hospital.

Relatives have described Shanti as a happy, beautiful child who loved her father. She was a ballet dancer who enjoyed rapping with her father and was set attend the School for Creative and Performing Arts next year, they said.